It’s Wednesday, January 13, 2009. We have a swim meet this weekend in Newburgh NY and we are told it’s postponed…

We are told the pool is unavailable. That’s very believable especially the week after a vacation. Our pool (HHHW) often has chlorine and chemical issues the week after a vacation. OK. That seems a likely scenario.

But — the rumors abound. One kid. The next kid. The next kid. Texting. Texting. Texting…

A stabbing? A murder? I had better check it out.

I hop onto Google and enter “Newburgh stabbing”. Results are returned but the most recent news related to a stabbing is dated January 4, 2009. (Click.) That’s 9 days earlier. Could the pool, or school facilities, be closed because of a stabbing over a week ago?

Better check Twitter.

I hit Twitter and search for “Newburgh stabbing”. Records are immediately returned. One the the links point to this short link http://bit.ly/7DK7zr . A stabbing had occurred that day. The local news site had posted an article about the stabbing 2 hours earlier.

Thanks Twitter!

The immediacy of Twitter was great. We immediately knew the true story (assuming we believe the Mid Hudson News) that there was a stabbing. The paper immediately tweet’d the news and it was available for us all. How long would it have taken for it to be picked up on Google? Would the AP have picked it up and then the AP picked up by Google? How often does The Mid Hudon News get spidered by Google?

When I need information, my first search remains with Google. But, depending upon the results, I will always check with Twitter.